Often, making quilts can involve tedious tasks such as cutting multiple pieces of fabric to be used in a quilt. Many times, these multiple pieces of fabric must be equal sizes to create patterns in the quilt. One such pattern involves making scallops, which are often used in borders. Scallop borders are generally semi-circles or arcs on the edges of sewn items such as quilts, baby blankets, clothing, etc. Scallops are usually evenly spaced along an edge of a quilt or blanket such that the edge has a wave effect.
Scallops are generally made with a single fabric with the scallops end-to-end. Cutting out each scallop and sewing them together to make a long scallop row is time consuming and requires precision. Overlapping scallops are desirable because they add depth to the sewing piece, but overlapping scallops more than doubles the time required for a single scallop row because the process for making the scallop row must be repeated and the rows precisely lined up to create the desired effect. Any variation from the desired alignment is noticeable and can cause significant time to repair, or the loss of the value of the quilt or piece being sewn.
Because of the time consuming nature and requirement of a highly skilled person to create an overlapping scallop border, quilts, blankets, and other projects with overlapping scallop borders are highly desirable. Similarly, people desiring to make a project with an overlapping scallop border do not undertake the project lightly due to the time and skill required.